


Prologue: A New Beginning

by 2BlueEyez



Series: Sule Is Unvena Ash… (Until He Found Her…) [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Custom Trevelyan, Dragon Age: Inquisition - Freeform, Mages and Templars, Multi, What Have I Done, i'm walking away now... You're on your own.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 09:14:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8661559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2BlueEyez/pseuds/2BlueEyez
Summary: Trevelyan only need to get information for her family at the Conclave. She didn't intend to create a scene or have her presence known... a cry for help blew that plan all to hell.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Yay!! It's finally finished!  
> I'm sorry it took so long. A lot has been happening, so getting this finished and up here is now my primary goal :)
> 
> A few quick notes:  
> -I intend to make the romance between Cullen and the Inquisitor purely bittersweet. I love the romance in the game, but it's a lot of fluff and I'm wanting to make it a unrequited as possible for the Epilogue  
> -I am splitting up the Prologue into two and will have the second one up relatively soon (Promise to get it up before Christmas.)  
> -This is going to stick mainly with the video game, with a few twists here and there.
> 
> Alright, enjoy! (^.^)

All she was supposed to do was listen in on the Conclave. An easy job…or so she thought. One minute she hears someone yelling, a bright light, then she is being chased by giant…things, and if that wasn’t enough, she proceeds to fall face first in rubble before she blacked-out. Ileana every now and then feels a feather-light touch upon her hand and over her forehead, as if someone is trying to wake her. But she likes the dreamless slumber. All too soon Ileana is forced out of her unconscious state by a burning sensation in her hand. Pain cripples her senses and when she jerks awake she finds her left hand is engulfed in a green light. She gasps from the pain. As it dulls, she notices her surroundings. Four guards with swords drawn and leveled to her, another one is making some signal to whoever is on the opposite side. The low light and odor gives it away that she is being held in a dungeon. She mentally laughed at the thought. A Trevelyan descendent locked up with iron cuffs to complete the look. This would surely make her parents proud.  
The door swung open and the light streaming in diluted her vision. Two dark figures entered the room; one of them drew closer than the other, circling her like a vulture. Ileana tried to turn her neck but an ache awoke the rest of her nerves. The person stopped behind her and she caught the faintest scent of elfroot. 

“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now. The conclave was destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead…except you.” Wait...

“What do you mean everyone’s dead?” With the door shut, sealing out the daylight, her eyes had adjusted and she could now identify the figures, both are women and one of them she knew all too well. The confusion on her face faded. Ileana knew Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast alright; she was the one responsible for Ileana’s brother joining the Seekers and abandoning her. The Seeker’s accusatory implications were heard loud and clear. She sat straighter in defiance.

“You think I’m responsible?” Ice was warmer than the tone her voice took when addressing Cassandra. The Seeker had been succeeding in keeping her anger in check, until she got a better view of who the prisoner was. The prodigy child of house Trevelyan: Ileana Tala Trevelyan. Cassandra yanked Ileana’s left hand, the metal cuffs pinching her skin.

“Explain this.” Cassandra shoved her hand back letting it fall to the floor. Ileana’s shock was evident as her memory eluded her.

“I…can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Her jaw clenched as her patients thinned further.

“I don’t know what that is, or how it got there.” Ileana’s voice took a defensive tone.

“You’re lying!” Cassandra started towards the prisoner, but the second dark figure saw her intentions and stepped between them, pushing Cassandra back.

“We need her, Cassandra.” Need me for what? Ileana was beginning to lose the fight. Everything was just too confusing. Her memory skipping around whenever she thought back.

“I don’t understand.” Ileana said more to herself. The second dark figure, a hooded woman, turned to her.

“Do you remember what happened? How this began?”

“I remember…running, things were chasing me and then…a woman…” She pushed herself further for the memories just out of her grasp.

“A woman?” Leliana remembered some of Cassandra’s men reporting of such.

“She…reached out to me and then…” A splitting headache formed when she pulled that bit of memory out. Cassandra took a deep breath forcing herself to relax.

“Go to the forward camp, Leliana,” She instructed her, “I will take her to the rift.” 

Leliana saw what little choice she had against the orders in the Seeker’s eyes. She simply nodded and left. From her research, she was sure Lady Trevelyan, though in chains, could still manage if it came down to a fight. Cassandra, coming to terms with her prisoner’s state, had decided the best course of action to clear up the confusion: Show Ileana the current reality they faced. She unlocked Ileana from the chains and tied her hands. Mainly out of formality, but if things went awry she wanted to at least have the upper hand. 

“What...did happen?” Ileana had to know. The images kept blurring when she tried to think on how she ended up here. Cassandra couldn’t describe it. She herself barely understood it.  
Sighing, she just shook her head while helping Ileana to her feet.

“It would be easier to show you.” 

 

A quick nod to the guard and Cassandra guides her from the dank room into the blinding light. Cassandra lets her take the moment to adjust, knowing she has when her eyes taking in the sickly green glow of the sky.

“We call it the Breach. It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It’s not the only such rift, just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the conclave.”

“An explosion can do that?” Ileana couldn’t contain her shock. A hole, in the sky, just there. She couldn’t come up with a single reasonable explanation. Cassandra interrupted her internal ranting to answer her. 

“This one did. Unless we act, the breach may grow until it swallows the world.” A thunderous roar sounds out across the area from the breach, as the burning pain from earlier courses through her veins illuminating the same sickly green glow, as the sky, from her hand. Unable to bear through the torment, Ileana doubles over. Hoping to relieve the agony by shoving it into the freshly fallen snow. Her assumption proves accurate, temporarily. “Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads… and it is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this but there isn’t much time.” 

It hadn’t come as a shock to Ileana about her impending doom, she half expected to hear it. Yet, something Cassandra said was gnawing at her.

“You said it may be the key. To doing what?” 

“Closing the Breach. Whether that’s possible is something we shall discover shortly. It is our only chance. And yours.” Cassandra looked into her eyes as she clipped the last words, letting her know the trouble she was in should it not work. Something Ileana caught onto right away and felt her irritation get the better of her.

“You still think I did this? To myself?”

“Not intentionally. Something clearly went wrong.”

“And if I’m not responsible?”

“Someone is, and you are our only suspect. You wish to prove your innocence? This is the only way.” Ileana stared down at the mark on her hand, still feeling residual pluses. A wave of uncertainty washed over her, leaving her with discomfort about the only path laid out in front of her. “I understand.”

“Then..?” She looked back up at Cassandra, determination set with her final decision.

“I’ll do what I can. Whatever it takes.” 

Tension eased away from Cassandra as she left out a sigh of relief. After helping Ileana up, she led her through the town. A few villager spat at Ileana upon passing. 

“They have decided your guilt. They need it. The people of Haven mourn our Most Holy, Divine Justinia, head of the Chantry. The Conclave was hers. It was a chance for peace between mages and Templars. She brought their leaders together. Now, they are dead.”

They reached the gate; where two soldiers began open them at Cassandra’s order.

“We lash out, like the sky. But we must think beyond ourselves, as she did. Until the breach is sealed.” With the gates closed behind them, Cassandra made quick work of the rope around Ileana’s wrists, free her.

“There will be a trial. I can promise no more.” She turned and began to walk in front of Ileana.

“Come. It is not far.” Following Cassandra across the bridge, still unsure of what was going on.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Your mark must be tested on something smaller than the Breach.” At the other side of the bridge was another gate. Just how many are there? Ileana pondered. 

“Open the gate! We are headed into the valley!” At her order the guards opened the gates. The smell of burning and rotting flesh assaulted her senses and Ileana fought the urge to vomit. She wondered if she would ever get used to the calamity of war. This was not her first experience on a battle field, but she always held out the hope that she’d not have to be involved in any more. 

They had reached the top of the hill, when the Breach flared again sending Ileana into a fit of agony bringing her to her knees. She might be Lady Trevelyan, but that didn’t mean a few choice words were dangerously close from slipping from her mouth. She righted herself with a few deep breaths to bring her senses back into control. She brushed off the snow from her pants upon standing.

“The pulses are coming faster now. The larger the breach grows, the more rifts appear, the more demons we face.” The light on her hand had waned to a glow. She clenched her hand, forming a fist.

“How did I survive the blast?” Cassandra continued walking, this time slower so Trevelyan was able to keep her pace. 

“They said you…stepped out of a rift, then fell unconscious. They say a woman was in the rift behind you. No one knows who she was. Everything farther in the valley was laid waste, including the Temple of Sacred Ashes. I suppose you’ll see soon enough.” Half way across the second bridge, when something crashed into the bridge making it collapse. Ileana and Cassandra fell with the rubble, thankfully, landing away from the majority of the debris. Easement of surviving that was short lived with another crash happening in the area ahead. The ground began to bubble in spots. Green light flickering and a rancid smell rapidly polluted the air around them as a grotesquely hideous creature emerged. 

“Stay behind me.” Cassandra drew her sword and rushed at the creature. Ileana was more than obliged to let her face that creature, had another pool of bubbling green light appeared in front of her. Well…shit. She looked around for something, anything to use in defense. Her eyes happen upon an overturned weapons cart. The gleam of a pair of daggers seemed Marker blessed. She grabbed them, and turned to her opponent. 

She gave herself credit; if she had hesitated the demon would have surely had her by the throat. Using one to stave off one attack, she countered with the other. Twisting it, so the blade protruded from the left side of her left hand, she made a precise, apace swipe across its stomach. Black liquid oozed out of the fresh wound. The demon hissed and squealed in agony. While it was distracted, she slipped past it and turned to sink the blades into its back. Defeated, the shade demon dissipated into ash. Ileana made a quick assessment and takes a deep breath.

“It’s over.” Cassandra however did not seem to think so. She leveled the tip of her sword toward Ileana’s throat.

“Drop your weapon. Now.”

Ileana blinked in blind shock. Surely she’s joking. Nothing in Cassandra’s expression backed-up her hypothesis. 

“A demon attacked me. What was I supposed to do?” Cassandra held her ground.

“You don’t need to fight.” For being part of the Seekers, she was being unreasonable about their situation. 

“Are you saying it won’t happen again?” Ileana’s blunt question seemed to do the trick. It finally dawned on Cassandra their situation. She knew what Ileana was getting at, and…

“You’re right.” She sheathed her sword. “I cannot protect you, and I cannot expect you to be defenseless.” 

“I should remember you agreed to come willingly.” She said it more to herself turning back to continue on their way. Cassandra stopped her when Ileana reached her side. 

“Take these potions. Maker knows what we will face.” Eight vials were shoved into her hands by Cassandra. She put them into her small satchel attached to her waist before catching up to Cassandra. Stepping over remains of victims had Ileana noticing the lack of any the breathing and walking around variety.

“Where are all of your soldiers?”

“At the forward camp or fighting. We are on our own, for now.”

They turn to the right and go up a small hill. 

“There! Watch out!” Cassandra grabs Ileana’s arm, preventing her from taking a step to far and taking a tumble. She signals Ileana to stay where she is and slowly makes her way to the edge of the cliff. Two shade demons are going on about their business. Cassandra waves Ileana over to see for herself.

“If we flank them, we may gain an advantage.” They climb down the hill without raising notice. Ileana and Cassandra make quick work of both demons, and continue their way. 

It isn’t long before they run into more demons. A shade demon blocks their path and lunges at Ileana. Cassandra is there in a heartbeat, drawing the demon from her. “Up there on the hill! It attacks from a distance!”

Cassandra pushed the demon back with her shield, letting Ileana slip by and advance towards the wraith. A few words whispered to her blade and Ileana flings it at the ghostly figure. The wraith dissipates as the silver blade strikes it. Ileana turned to see Cassandra break the shade’s defense with her shield and drives her sword into its chest. The demon hisses before becoming ash. Looking up, she nods to Ileana.  
They continue on, reaching the riverbank. A dark mass plummets to the earth ahead of them, blocking their way and they find themselves in the midst of a group of wraiths and shade demons. Another mass hits and a few more demons appear. 

“They’re falling from the breach!” Ileana calls to Cassandra. She picks up a bit of annoyance in her tone, and can’t say she does not feel the same. The two women defeat the foes. As the last demon dies, Cassandra hears clanking of metal other than her own. She looks towards Ileana who appears alert from it as well. They race towards the snow covered stairs. 

“We are getting close to the rift. You can hear the fighting,” Cassandra explains.

“Who’s fighting?”

“You’ll see soon. We must help them.” Her last statement feels almost like a plea to Ileana. She grips her daggers tighter, readying for anything.


End file.
